Greening Human Capital of public institutions of the Western Balkans - Green Skills Assessment
The Western Balkan countries are signatories of the Paris Agreement and have committed to key
elements of the European Union’s (EU) Green Deal by endorsing the 2020 Sofia Declaration on
the Green Agenda for the Western Balkan (GAWB), and subsequently the GAWB Action Plan
2021–2030. This commitment means that those countries must work more vigorously to
strengthen domestic low-carbon development. With support from the Ministry of Environment,
Climate and Energy, and the Climate Change Fund of Slovenia, the CEF initiated the project
Greening Human Capital (GHC) of Public Institutions of the Western Balkans in March 2024.
The three-year GHC project aims to strengthen the capacity of public officials from finance
ministries and relevant line ministries in the Western Balkans who are working on their countries’
sustainable agendas to lead the green transformation and transition to a sustainable economy.
This will be achieved by improving (1) the target audience’s green-specific technical knowledge
to implement the Green Agenda; and (2) their ability to envision, lead, and coordinate the
implementation of the sustainable agendas of their institutions.
The GHC project focuses on promoting learning and knowledge sharing across four components:
(1) mainstreaming climate change in public policies; (2) sustainable finance; (3) communicating
climate change; and (4) strengthening institutional capacities for climate action. The learning
initiatives will be delivered through workshops, webinars, conferences, and online courses.
Progress will be reflected, for example, in the improved competencies of the target audience and
their practical application, an expanded knowledge base, deployment of relevant tools,
development of effective mechanisms, and contributions to the successful implementation of the
Green Agenda. To better understand the knowledge gaps and challenges that the target
institutions are facing in implementing the Green Agenda, and to inform the planning of the
project’s learning component, a baseline assessment of the current state of green skills has been
carried out in the period July to October 2024.
Lea Reitmeier, Robert Bauchmüller, CEF, 2025.